8 Liberals quit over premier's 'humiliating' treatment of Chris Collins
Some Moncton Centre board members upset with way harassment allegation against MLA was handled
Comments
Dan Armitage
He'd throw everyone in the
province under the bus if he thought he'd gain out of it. I'm still so
bewildered they're even in office after the graham regime hmmmmm. We
must all have Alzheimers because a lot of people in this province only
took four years to forget about the mess they left us in back then. Time
to right the ship ABL (ANYONE EXCEPT LIBERALS)
Robbie Adams
@Dan Armitage ....ABL....That goes without saying anywhere in Canada
David Amos
@Dan Armitage Methinks there is more to this story that nobody is telling N'esy Pas?
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/speaker-chris-collins-harassment-allegations-1.4758434
Allegations not revealed
"Whether the public will ever see the report on the case to know just what Collins was accused of isn't certain.LeBlanc released no details about the nature of the alleged harassment and did not indicate how much of the complaint was not founded.
Nor did he say anything about who the complainant was.
He said the committee will not release the report from the investigation, and he did not take any questions.
LeBlanc said the investigation, led by Osgoode Law School adjunct professor Leslie H. Macleod, has concluded.
The investigation was spurred by allegations of harassment made by a former employee of the legislature, Premier Brian Gallant said during a conference call with journalists April 5."
http://www.osgoodepd.ca/faculty/leslie-h-macleod-2/
LESLIE H. MACLEOD, BA, LLB, LLM (ADR) is
an Adjunct Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School and Co-Director of the
Professional LLM in Alternative Dispute Resolution at Osgoode
Professional Development. She is the founder of Leslie H. Macleod &
Associates, a firm providing conflict resolution services. Leslie’s
current practice includes teaching and training in ADR; facilitation,
mediation, and fact-finding/investigation; and conflict resolution
system design and evaluation. Leslie has twenty-five years of combined
experience as a lawyer, as an executive in industry and government, and
as a mediator and educator in conflict resolution. She was previously
the Assistant Deputy Attorney General responsible for development of
Mandatory Mediation in Ontario and for establishment of the Province’s
Dispute Resolution Office.
Leslie H. Macleod
LESLIE H. MACLEOD, BA, LLB, LLM (ADR) is
an Adjunct Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School and Co-Director of the
Professional LLM in Alternative Dispute Resolution at Osgoode
Professional Development. She is the founder of Leslie H. Macleod &
Associates, a firm providing conflict resolution services. Leslie’s
current practice includes teaching and training in ADR; facilitation,
mediation, and fact-finding/investigation; and conflict resolution
system design and evaluation. Leslie has twenty-five years of combined
experience as a lawyer, as an executive in industry and government, and
as a mediator and educator in conflict resolution. She was previously
the Assistant Deputy Attorney General responsible for development of
Mandatory Mediation in Ontario and for establishment of the Province’s
Dispute Resolution Office.
Principal
Called to the bar: 1981 (ON)
Ste. 420
975-A Elgin St. W.
Cobourg, Ontario K9A 5J3
Phone: 416-489-4332
Fax: 905-342-9092
Email: leslie.h.macleod@gmail.com
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/chris-collins-victim-mla-1.4764452
Sensitivity training for Chris Collins after harassment deemed 'founded in part'
Liberals on legislative committee decided a remedy in workplace harassment case
Speaker
Chris Collins must write an apology letter and complete anti-harassment
and sensitivity training after harassment allegations against him by a
former legislature employee were deemed "founded in part."
Members of the all-party legislative committee charged with finding a "remedy" to the case were split on the decision, which was determined Friday afternoon after a 90-minute meeting.
The decision by the legislative administration committee was "based on legal advice," said a government of New Brunswick release.
The
release said the committee "is satisfied that these are the appropriate
measures to take in the circumstances," but the vote was not unanimous.
One MLA, Green Party Leader David Coon, said the committee "failed" the person who made the allegations against Collins. He called the 90-minute meeting a farce.
"I couldn't read the legal opinion because out Liberal members voted against us receiving the legal opinion that our lawyer prepared for us," he said. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but this is how it went down."
Flemming said the five Liberal MLAs on the committee voted for the remedy, and the three opposition members voted against it. The other two opposition members were Coon and Progressive Conservative MLA Pam Lynch.
Flemming said he was disappointed with the decision.
Speaking to media Friday, Green Party Leader David Coon said the committee has failed the victim. (Hadeel Ibrahim/CBC)
"Don't suggest there's any unanimity about it because it wasn't. It was a completely one-sided deal," he said.
"We were just shut out. It was a real we-and-they. We were provided practically nothing in terms of information. It is completely party lines."
"It is the five Liberal members voting one way."
Liberal MLA Serge Rousselle said Flemming should not have discussed how the vote went. The legislative administration committee always meets in secret and usually makes decisions by consensus.
Coon said the committee "failed the victim," who was not provided with "effective and clear recourse."
PC MLA Ted Flemming said he was disappointed with the decision, noting it was only Liberals who voted in favour. (Hadeel Ibrahim/CBC)
The committee needs to ensure the legislature workplace is a safe place, Coon said, and it hasn't been doing that.
"Recourse in the event of harassment needs to be clear and effective and timely. None of these things are in place yet."
Although Collins was found to have partly violated the provincial policy against workplace harassment, the legislature does not have its own policy. A subcommittee was struck to create one but Lynch, a member of that committee, said it hasn't met.
"It is frustrating," she said. "I was appointed to the committee and I was expecting to meet long before this and we haven't."
The committee did not receive the full report compiled by the investigator, Osgoode Law School adjunct professor Leslie H. Macleod. Members saw only a summary of the findings.
On Tuesday Collins's lawyer T.J. Burke said the Speaker accepted "full responsibility" for the actions that violated the province's workplace harassment policy. He said Collins is "apologetic" for his action but did not expand on what those actions were.
Burke did say the harassment was not physical in nature. He said Friday that he nothing else to add.
T.J. Burke, the lawyer representing Speaker Chris Collins, said the harassment was not physical in nature (Jacques Poitras/CBC News)
LeBlanc's
statement Monday on behalf of the committee did not specify what the
allegations were, which parts were seen as founded and who the
complainant was
.
Collins announced this spring he won't run with the Liberals in September's provincial election.
He will still be Speaker by title until a new one is chosen on the first day of the first session of the legislature after the election. His term as MLA will end the third week of August.
Coon said the lack of legislature policy on sexual harassment means legislature employees cannot be protected.
The New Brunswick Women's Council commended the legislative administration committee for attempting to create a workplace harassment policy but asked members to share progress more often and update the public.
"We are in a cultural reckoning on gender-based harassment and sexual violence that revealed that institutional responses … that occur behind closed doors are too often flawed and inadequate," co-chair Jewell Mitchell advised in a note to the clerk of the legislature.
Members of the all-party legislative committee charged with finding a "remedy" to the case were split on the decision, which was determined Friday afternoon after a 90-minute meeting.
The decision by the legislative administration committee was "based on legal advice," said a government of New Brunswick release.
One MLA, Green Party Leader David Coon, said the committee "failed" the person who made the allegations against Collins. He called the 90-minute meeting a farce.
"I couldn't read the legal opinion because out Liberal members voted against us receiving the legal opinion that our lawyer prepared for us," he said. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but this is how it went down."
Only Liberals support decision
Flemming said the five Liberal MLAs on the committee voted for the remedy, and the three opposition members voted against it. The other two opposition members were Coon and Progressive Conservative MLA Pam Lynch.
Flemming said he was disappointed with the decision.
"We were just shut out. It was a real we-and-they. We were provided practically nothing in terms of information. It is completely party lines."
"It is the five Liberal members voting one way."
Committee meets in private
Liberal MLA Serge Rousselle said Flemming should not have discussed how the vote went. The legislative administration committee always meets in secret and usually makes decisions by consensus.
Coon said the committee "failed the victim," who was not provided with "effective and clear recourse."
"Recourse in the event of harassment needs to be clear and effective and timely. None of these things are in place yet."
Wants policy for legislature
Although Collins was found to have partly violated the provincial policy against workplace harassment, the legislature does not have its own policy. A subcommittee was struck to create one but Lynch, a member of that committee, said it hasn't met.
"It is frustrating," she said. "I was appointed to the committee and I was expecting to meet long before this and we haven't."
The committee did not receive the full report compiled by the investigator, Osgoode Law School adjunct professor Leslie H. Macleod. Members saw only a summary of the findings.
Took 'full responsibility'
On Tuesday Collins's lawyer T.J. Burke said the Speaker accepted "full responsibility" for the actions that violated the province's workplace harassment policy. He said Collins is "apologetic" for his action but did not expand on what those actions were.
Burke did say the harassment was not physical in nature. He said Friday that he nothing else to add.
.
Collins announced this spring he won't run with the Liberals in September's provincial election.
Sees no protection
He will still be Speaker by title until a new one is chosen on the first day of the first session of the legislature after the election. His term as MLA will end the third week of August.
Coon said the lack of legislature policy on sexual harassment means legislature employees cannot be protected.
The New Brunswick Women's Council commended the legislative administration committee for attempting to create a workplace harassment policy but asked members to share progress more often and update the public.
"We are in a cultural reckoning on gender-based harassment and sexual violence that revealed that institutional responses … that occur behind closed doors are too often flawed and inadequate," co-chair Jewell Mitchell advised in a note to the clerk of the legislature.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/chris-collins-harrassment-allegations-1.4761123
Details of Chris Collins allegations should stay private, says political scientist
Keeping report on workplace harassment investigation out of public eye protects people involved
A
political scientist says the provincial government is doing the correct
thing by not releasing the details of the harassment allegations
against Speaker Chris Collins.
Mario Levesque, who teaches in the politics and international relations department at Mount Allison University in Sackville, said he wasn't surprised that Collins, the MLA for Moncton Centre, was only found "in part" to have violated the provincial policy against workplace harassment.
But he also added it was the right decision not to make the investigator's report public, despite the vague meaning of "in part," the lack of any information that would give substantial meaning to the finding, and concerns expressed about the secrecy.
"I
don't think the report should be released either, to protect both the
interests of the person that made the allegation and Mr. Collins as
well."
Through his lawyer, T.J. Burke, Collins said he accepted full responsibility for the behaviour an investigator says violated a provincial policy against workplace harassment.
An all-party legislative committee said earlier this week that a summary of the investigation concluded a harassment complaint was "founded in part."
There was no elaboration, and committee members didn't see the investigator's full report.
Mario Levesque, who teaches in the politics and international relations department at Mount Allison University in Sackville, said he wasn't surprised that Collins, the MLA for Moncton Centre, was only found "in part" to have violated the provincial policy against workplace harassment.
But he also added it was the right decision not to make the investigator's report public, despite the vague meaning of "in part," the lack of any information that would give substantial meaning to the finding, and concerns expressed about the secrecy.
Through his lawyer, T.J. Burke, Collins said he accepted full responsibility for the behaviour an investigator says violated a provincial policy against workplace harassment.
An all-party legislative committee said earlier this week that a summary of the investigation concluded a harassment complaint was "founded in part."
There was no elaboration, and committee members didn't see the investigator's full report.
Information Morning - Moncton
Procedure and privacy issues
07:21
11:22
The probe was launched after Premier Brian Gallant held a sudden conference call with reporters April 5 to announce he had learned about allegations of harassment made by a former employee of the legislature.
Collins was suspended from the Liberal caucus, which is consistent with a policy of sending someone home with pay pending an investigation.
He also gave up his Speaker responsibilities. He will keep the title until a new Speaker is chosen at the opening of the first session of the legislature after the September election.
'Broad terms'
Levesque said it's not unusual for details of investigators' reports to be withheld from the public, even when politicians are involved.
"It's reported to the public in broad terms," he said.
Levesque agreed an argument could be made for releasing some details, since the Collins case involved someone holding a public office, but said it doesn't serve the interests of those involved.
"They have to have some type of modicum of privacy in their own space as well," he said.
"There was no apology. Instead what it was, it was an acknowledgement."
Burke did say Collins was apologetic and distraught about the investigator's finding.
But Levesque said it appeared to him that Burke was signalling to the government that if they came down too hard on Collins, they could face a potential lawsuit.
Levesque added he's sure Collins is thinking about his future, whether he'll run again for political office or work for the private sector.
"I'm sure he's thinking about this, speaking to friends and family, what does he want to do long term."
If Collins decides to run, Levesque said, it would be up to the voters to decide if they could accept what he did and move on from it.
Most people are likely to remember only the last six months of a politician's career, he said.
"But this could be a real good opportunity for Mr. Collins to come forward and through T.J. Burke say something did happen here, here's how I'm going forward with it, and here's how I'm being responsible in this process, and I'm being accountable to you, my constituents."
Collins has already said he would not run again as a Liberal.
With files from Information Morning Moncton and Shane Magee
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/chris-collins-update-reaction-1.4759293
Allegations
of harassment against Moncton Centre Liberal MLA Chris Collins, speaker
of the New Brunswick legislature, were founded "in part." (CBC)
Lawyer for Speaker won't reveal details of harassment allegations or behaviour 1:24
Burke
spoke the day after an all-party legislative committee issued a vague
statement on the investigation into the harassment allegations against
Collins, who has represented Moncton Centre for the Liberals and been
Speaker since 2014.
The committee said a summary of the investigation concluded a harassment complaint was "founded in part" and there was a violation of provincial policy. There was no elaboration and there is no indication the investigator's report will be made public.
A former Liberal riding president in Moncton Centre says she's infuriated by the lack of details.
"This man was waiting four months, his reputation was in tatters and all of a sudden this comes out," Audrey Lampert said Tuesday.
T.J.
Burke, the lawyer representing Speaker Chris Collins, previously told
reporters the unspecified allegations against his client were not
founded. (Maria Jose Burgos/CBC)
"We
still don't know what the allegations are," Lampert said. "Something's
founded 'in part.' What does that mean? Is it a little weeny part, is it
a great big part? We don't know what they're talking about. I find this
infuriating. It's unfair."
Lampert quit as president of the Liberal association in Collins's riding in May.
Members of the legislative administration committee, which received only the summary of the investigation, were unable to decide on a "remedy," according to an email from Liberal MLA Bernard LeBlanc, acting committee chair, to the deputy clerk of the legislature.
LeBlanc has asked for a second committee meeting Friday afternoon to decide on a remedy.
Liberal
MLA Bernard LeBlanc, acting chair of the legislative administration
committee, read a prepared statement to news media on Monday and refused
to take questions afterward. (Hadeel Ibrahim/CBC)
Cathy
Rogers, Liberal MLA for Moncton South and the finance minister, told
reporters in Moncton on Tuesday she was happy "the report has come out."
"There's really nothing more to say than what's been reported," she said.
At several points, she said the report had been released, although it hasn't.
"Not necessarily," Rogers said when asked if the report should be released. "It's a private matter and we're following normal protocol, normal practice in HR."
It's not clear who did receive the report of the investigation by Leslie H. MacLeod, an adjunct professor at Osgoode Law School.
Burke said only the legislative assembly can punish Collins, something that would require calling it back into session.
He said he doesn't think the public would be well-served to have MLAs return to debate the issue.
He said Collins has already suffered punishment, including having his name associated with allegations of harassment for several months and his removal from the Liberal caucus.
"I believe the man has suffered enough, I believe the man has been punished appropriately," Burke said.
Lampert, who quit as Liberal president in Collins's riding in May over Premier Brian Gallant's handling of the case.
"We don't know anything," Lampert said Tuesday. "It's worse than before."
Lampert said she spoke to Collins on Monday evening, though declined to say what they discussed.
The probe was launched after Gallant held a sudden teleconference call with reporters April 5 to announce he had learned about allegations of harassment made by a former employee of the legislature.
Cathy
Rogers, Liberal MLA for Moncton South, told reporters she doesn't
believe an investigator's report on the allegations against Collins
should necessarily be made public. (Ian Bonnell/CBC)
Gallant
said his office had been "previously" aware of "personality conflicts"
between Collins and an employee and knew in February a complaint might
be coming. The complaint wasn't officially made until April.
"I think we're in the same position we were when the premier made his announcement back in April," Lampert said.
The committee hired Macleod to carry out the investigation.
Collins issued a lengthy statement in the spring saying he wouldn't run for the Liberals in the fall provincial election.
Lampert said she doesn't know whether Collins will run as an independent and wouldn't encourage him or discourage him from running.
Burke did not rule out Collins running as an independent.
Collins gave up his Speaker responsibilities after the allegations came out, but he will keep the title until a new Speaker is chosen at the opening of the first session of the legislature after the September election.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/speaker-chris-collins-harassment-allegations-1.4758434
Harassment
allegations against Speaker Chris Collins, pictured, were 'founded in
part,' according to Liberal MLA Bernard LeBlanc. (CBC)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-liberal-party-nomination-moncton-centre-1.4689918
Robert
McKee, a 32-year-old lawyer and first-term Moncton city councillor,
declared his candidacy for the Moncton Centre Liberal nomination on May
17. (Submitted)
Chris Collins announced May 10 he won't run for the Liberals in the Sept. 24 election. (CBC)
New
Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant announced April 5 during an urgent
teleconference with reporters that Chris Collins had been suspended from
the Liberal caucus, effective immediately. (CBC)
Riding
president Audrey Lampert said she, the treasurer, the secretary, and
five board members decided to quit at a meeting Wednesday night.
Lampert said in an interview that Gallant had "humiliated" Collins when he went public with allegations of harassment against the Moncton Centre MLA. She also said the provincial party office kept the riding association in the dark during the controversy.
"It's been a very hurtful, painful process that every individual and this board as a whole has gone through since that April 5 or 6 announcement," she said.
"I guess people will just take their time and decide where they are on that," she said.
Lampert said some of the Liberals who resigned could support even Collins if he ran as an independent this fall, something he has not ruled out.
"I guess people will declare their intentions if Chris Collins declares his," she said.
Gallant revealed the allegations April 5 in an evening conference call with reporters. He said the allegation came from a former employee of the legislature, where Collins has been Speaker since after the 2014 election. Details of the allegation remain a mystery.
Collins later gave up his administrative functions as speaker, and an all-party committee of MLAs commissioned an independent investigation.
Lampert said she only learned of the allegations when a reporter called her seeking her reaction to Gallant's surprise announcement on April 5 — a sign Gallant and the party disrespect local grassroots Liberals, she said.
"We were strong supporters of Chris," she said. "We got him elected. We raised money for him. And then he was, quote, 'suspended.' And we have no idea what's behind that.
"People in our association, it came through very clearly at the meeting last night, feel betrayed by the Liberal association."
Collins issued a blistering statement May 10 calling Gallant's actions "atrocious" and threatening to sue the premier for libel.
He said in that statement that he would not run as a Liberal under Gallant's leadership but did not rule out another kind of candidacy, declaring he had "many decisions to make about my political and professional future."
Wednesday was the deadline for candidates to file paperwork to seek the Liberal nomination in Moncton Centre. According to the party, only one person, Moncton city councillor Robert McKee, filed before the deadline.
McKee said Wednesday he was meeting with some association members who were upset at Collins's treatment. "Hopefully time will allow them to heal, I guess, from the situation and hopefully support the Liberal candidate down the road," he said.
But Lampert said Gallant's treatment of Collins had shaken her lifetime loyalty to the party.
"It's terrible," she said. "It's awful. It took me a long time to make my decision to resign as president. I was shaking when I read my letter of resignation. It's just a very emotional thing.
"You spend your lifetime working for a party, financially contributing to the party. You know, we work as volunteers. We're not paid. So that's where the pain is."
"There were some people, a minority of people, who said regardless of how bad things were, they were definitely going to stick with the party and support a Liberal candidate," she said.
Other members of the Liberal riding board contacted by CBC News declined to comment.
Liberal Party executive director Keiller Zed released a statement Thursday that he sent to party members in Moncton Centre, saying he had tried to arrange a meeting with the board after Collins's May 10 statement.
Lampert told him "she would be away for a few days," Zed said.
He also said he tried to reach Lampert earlier in the day Wednesday to ask her to resign over her previous comments to the media, which "cast doubt over supporting our party in the upcoming provincial election."
He accused her of rebuffing him and of not telling other members of the board that he had made the offer to meet them.
"I believe that much of this situation could have been avoided," he wrote.
He also said he and the riding association's acting president would try to organize a meeting before the June 2 nominating convention to elect a new executive.
Lampert is a former school teacher and former member of the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission. She was named a member of the Order of New Brunswick in 2012.
She said Thursday she first got involved with the Liberal Party when she was 11 years old.
She said Collins had personally recruited her and other members to sit on the board when the new Moncton Centre riding was created ahead of the last election.
"He's been humiliated publicly," Lampert said. "And there's two sides to every story. In our democracy … people are innocent until proven guilty. And to be humiliated like that is a terrible thing. That's why we're so pained that that man was humiliated like that.
"Maybe there's truth to the allegations. Maybe there's no truth at all. But having tarnished his reputation in the eyes of the public is what our people can't understand, and that's why they feel betrayed."
I thought Gallant promised to nominate women in half of the ridings where there wasn’t an incumbent. Why no woman in Shediac-Beaubassin-Cape Pele, Campbellton-Dalhousie, Tracadie-Sheila, Moncton Centre, and Saint John Harbor. Or was that just another Gallant alternative fact.
Also, Dominic may have difficulty keeping track of his wife’s 60 cousins but Gallant seems to keep them straight.
http://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/news/news_release.2017.05.0692.html
Chris
Collins, who was suspended from the Liberal caucus on April 5, pending
an investigation of allegations of harassment, said he will finish his
term as an independent. (CBC)
Little is known about the
allegations, including whether the alleged harassment was sexual and
whether it involved a man or a woman.
Gallant said last month that his office had been aware of "personality conflicts" between Collins and a legislature employee "previously." He said in February his office found out a complaint might be coming, but it was only officially made in April.
The committee of MLAs that oversees the legislature approved the hiring of an independent investigator to look into the complaint.
Collins's lawyer, T.J. Burke, a former Liberal minister and colleague, said last month Collins would defend himself in that investigation because the harassment "did not occur."
T.J. Burke, the lawyer representing Chris Collins, told media members the allegations against his client did not occur. (Jacques Poitras/CBC News)
Burke said he wanted to cross-examine the complainant.
Burke also suggested the allegation was politically motivated to create "political turmoil" for Collins so that Gallant would have a rationale to have another candidate run for the Liberals in Moncton Centre.
In his Thursday email statement, Collins did not repeat that accusation, but he said Gallant had ignored due process and prejudiced the investigation against him.
"A citizen's rights should be protected, not violated, on national television," Collins wrote. "Who has ever handled [a human resources] file in this manner?"
Collins also said the actions by Gallant and his staff "have not created a safe place for complainants to come forward with a complaint or a concern.
"They have made it an intimidating process where the right to privacy is questioned through the politicizing of a process itself."
Even so, Collins said he's looking forward to the investigation process.
In his statement, Collins thanked several friends and supporters, including the Moncton Centre Liberal riding association that is on the record supporting his right to defend himself against the allegations before a nominating convention is scheduled.
Collins also thanked former Liberal cabinet minister Mike Murphy, whom Collins supported in the 2012 Liberal leadership race that Gallant won.
Dan and Jacques discuss
recent political developments, including the departure of Serge
Rousselle, the suspension of Chris Collins, the death of Keith Ashfield
and the firing of Stephen Smith. 22:55
During
that race, Collins discussed the possibility Gallant would recruit a
rival candidate for the Moncton East Liberal nomination.
In an email mistakenly copied to fellow MLAs and made public, Collins threatened, if blocked by Gallant from running as a Liberal, to compete as an independent to spoil the party's chances in the riding.
But the day Gallant was elected leader, Collins declared he would support Gallant.
"In politics, a lot of things are taken out of your hands," he said at the time. "The membership of the Liberal Party of New Brunswick have thrown their support behind Brian Gallant. That decision I have to respect, and I will."
Murphy's wife, Moira Murphy, is now the PC candidate in Moncton South. Collins said in his statement that Mike Murphy has offered him "solid advice" since the allegations became public last month.
Murphy declined to comment Thursday night.
While Collins said he won't run again as a Liberal, he said he still has "many decisions to make about my political and professional future," leaving open the possibility he may run for another party or as an independent candidate.
Speaker
Chris Collins will fight the harassment allegations against him,
according to his lawyer. On Monday, it was announced Collins has given
up his administrative duties at the legislature. (Jacques Poitras/CBC News)
Liberal
MLA Victor Boudreau says it's unclear how the long the investigation
into the allegations against Speaker Chris Collins would take. (Jacques Poitras/CBC News)
"I
certainly can't speculate on how long the investigator will take," he
said. "We simply asked that it be done as quickly as possible in the
interest of both parties involved in this."
He said it wasn't his place to discuss whether the Liberal party should hold off on setting a nominating meeting in Moncton Centre until after the investigation is finished.
He said he was also disappointed that he and other members of the legislative administration committee weren't told the substance of the complaint.
Green Party Leader David Coon says he wants to see the results of the investigation made public. (CBC)
"I'm uncomfortable with it," he said. "That was the legal advice that was received, but to me it doesn't add up."
He said he hopes the conclusions of the investigation are made public.
A former sergeant-at-arms of the legislature, Dan Bussières, injected himself into the issue Monday by appearing at the legislature to argue that the committee meeting was "illegitimate." The house rules say only the Speaker can chair a LAC meeting.
"If I was Speaker Collins, I would have walked into that meeting and said, 'No, I did not call this meeting, I am the chair of this meeting and I'm recalling the house,'" he said. "I think the Speaker's being railroaded, period."
Bussières called Collins "a true gentleman" and said he had never seen him act in a way that could be considered harassment.
Dan
Bussières, former sergeant-at-arms of the legislature, called the LAC
meeting on Monday illegitimate' because only the Speaker can chair such a
meeting. (Jacques Poitras/CBC News)
Boudreau brushed off Bussières's comments about the legitimacy of the meeting.
"I'm not sure what that's about, but we were well within our responsibilities today as per the clerk of the legislature."
Burke said Monday that Collins would co-operate with the investigation.
Collins was elected on March 5, 2007, in a byelection held to fill a vacancy in the constituency of Moncton East.
He had previously served three years as a Moncton city councillor.
In 2010, Collins served briefly as the minister of local government under former Liberal premier Shawn Graham.
He was re-elected in 2014 to represent the newly created riding of Moncton Centre and was elected Speaker.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/collins-not-easily-ousted-1.4608693
Speaker
and Moncton Centre MLA Chris Collins, 55, has been suspended from the
Liberal caucus pending an investigation into allegations of harassment. (CBC)
http://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2018/04/a-speaker-who-continued-to-bar-me-whole.html
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/chris-collins-harassment-allegation-suspended-speaker-1.4607199
Speaker
and Moncton Centre MLA Chris Collins, 55, has been suspended from the
Liberal caucus pending investigation of allegations of harassment, New
Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant said. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
A former employee of the legislature made the allegations against Chris Collins, who also represents the riding Moncton Centre, Gallant said during a teleconference with media at 6:30 p.m. AT.
Gallant declined to say whether the former employee is a man or a woman, or whether the allegations are of a sexual nature, saying it is not his place to do so.
"Further action will be considered following the conclusion of the investigation."
Collins, 55, could not immediately be reached for comment.
It's unclear what this will mean for his political future. New Brunswick goes to the polls on Sept. 24 but a Liberal MLA who is suspended from caucus can't run for nomination. The nomination for the Liberals in that riding has not yet been held.
Gallant said staff in his office had previously been made aware of "personality conflicts" between Collins and the former employee in question, although he did not indicate when.
The employee was subsequently transferred to "an alternate employment setting," he said.
Gallant said his office learned on Feb. 17 that allegations of harassment might be coming. The former employee was contacted that same day and asked for time to "consider the options," he said.
It was confirmed Wednesday that the former employee was making the allegations, Gallant said.
Gallant
said staff in his office had previously been made aware of 'personality
conflicts' between Collins and the former employee who made the
complaint. (CBC)
"Any workplace harassment
is unacceptable and government will take prompt and appropriate action
in this situation, and whenever such allegations are brought forward."
"It is crucial that we ensure that workplaces are safe and respectable for all people, in all situations."
Asked whether police are investigating, Gallant said he is unaware of any other investigations.
The Fredericton Police Force and the New Brunswick Union of Public and Private Employees could not immediately be reached for comment.
Collins was elected on March 5, 2007, in a byelection held to fill a vacancy in the constituency of Moncton East.
He had previously served three years as a Moncton city councillor.
In 2010, Collins served briefly as the minister of local government under former Liberal premier Shawn Graham.
He was re-elected in 2014 to represent the newly created riding of Moncton Centre and was elected Speaker.
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MR. FUREY: I would.
CHAIRMAN: Okay. So with respect to the duty to participate responsibly, you filed documentation which has been provided to all the parties and the Board of course has read it, as I'm sure others have. Do you -- I guess it's your objection. So is there anything that you want to highlight here or anything further you want to add?
MR. FUREY: Yes. If I might have a few minutes to do that, I would appreciate it, Mr. Chair.
"I think it's worth noting that Mr. Amos' own documents show that he has, on at least one occasion and perhaps two, been banned or barred from the grounds of the New Brunswick Legislative Assembly on the basis of harassment of MLAs, officers and staff of the Legislative Assembly. Having been so barred, he brought a complaint against the members of the Fredericton City police force to the Police Commission, that was subsequently dismissed, relating to their involvement in barring him from the Legislative Assembly. "
John O'Brien
Douglas James
Douglas Fowler
Aaron Allison
dale mcrobie
Buford Wilson
rayma allaby
charleysinclair
Ben Brown
Dianne MacPherson
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/chris-collins-update-reaction-1.4759293
Chris Collins 'accepts full responsibility' after workplace harassment finding
Calling Speaker 'apologetic,' lawyer TJ Burke won't reveal details of harassment allegations or behaviour
Speaker
Chris Collins accepts responsibility for the behaviour an investigator
says violated a provincial policy against workplace harassment, his
lawyer says.
"He accepts full responsibility for the findings that the investigator made in her report," T.J. Burke said Tuesday afternoon.
Burke later said Collins is "apologetic for the actions" deemed to violate provincial policy.
Burke would not go into details about the specific behaviour, but said it was not a form of physical harassment.
"He's quite upset and distraught over the findings," Burke said.
He said Collins wasn't prepared to publicly comment on the matter, so he gave approval to Burke to provide a statement.
"He accepts full responsibility for the findings that the investigator made in her report," T.J. Burke said Tuesday afternoon.
Burke later said Collins is "apologetic for the actions" deemed to violate provincial policy.
Burke would not go into details about the specific behaviour, but said it was not a form of physical harassment.
"He's quite upset and distraught over the findings," Burke said.
He said Collins wasn't prepared to publicly comment on the matter, so he gave approval to Burke to provide a statement.
'Mr. Collins is contemplating potentially a lawsuit down the road'
00:00
01:24
The committee said a summary of the investigation concluded a harassment complaint was "founded in part" and there was a violation of provincial policy. There was no elaboration and there is no indication the investigator's report will be made public.
"This man was waiting four months, his reputation was in tatters and all of a sudden this comes out," Audrey Lampert said Tuesday.
Lampert quit as president of the Liberal association in Collins's riding in May.
Members of the legislative administration committee, which received only the summary of the investigation, were unable to decide on a "remedy," according to an email from Liberal MLA Bernard LeBlanc, acting committee chair, to the deputy clerk of the legislature.
LeBlanc has asked for a second committee meeting Friday afternoon to decide on a remedy.
"There's really nothing more to say than what's been reported," she said.
At several points, she said the report had been released, although it hasn't.
"Not necessarily," Rogers said when asked if the report should be released. "It's a private matter and we're following normal protocol, normal practice in HR."
It's not clear who did receive the report of the investigation by Leslie H. MacLeod, an adjunct professor at Osgoode Law School.
Already punished, lawyer says
Burke said only the legislative assembly can punish Collins, something that would require calling it back into session.
He said he doesn't think the public would be well-served to have MLAs return to debate the issue.
He said Collins has already suffered punishment, including having his name associated with allegations of harassment for several months and his removal from the Liberal caucus.
"I believe the man has suffered enough, I believe the man has been punished appropriately," Burke said.
Still 'don't know anything'
Lampert, who quit as Liberal president in Collins's riding in May over Premier Brian Gallant's handling of the case.
"We don't know anything," Lampert said Tuesday. "It's worse than before."
Lampert said she spoke to Collins on Monday evening, though declined to say what they discussed.
The probe was launched after Gallant held a sudden teleconference call with reporters April 5 to announce he had learned about allegations of harassment made by a former employee of the legislature.
"I think we're in the same position we were when the premier made his announcement back in April," Lampert said.
The committee hired Macleod to carry out the investigation.
Collins issued a lengthy statement in the spring saying he wouldn't run for the Liberals in the fall provincial election.
Not sure of election plans
Lampert said she doesn't know whether Collins will run as an independent and wouldn't encourage him or discourage him from running.
Burke did not rule out Collins running as an independent.
Collins gave up his Speaker responsibilities after the allegations came out, but he will keep the title until a new Speaker is chosen at the opening of the first session of the legislature after the September election.
About the Author
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/speaker-chris-collins-harassment-allegations-1.4758434
Harassment allegations against Speaker Chris Collins 'founded in part'
Collins announced earlier he won’t run with Liberals in September’s provincial election
Allegations
of harassment levelled against Speaker Chris Collins were "founded in
part," says the vice-chair of an all-party committee of the New
Brunswick Legislature.
Liberal MLA Bernard LeBlanc read a short statement, endorsed by all members of the legislative administration committee during a two-hour, closed meeting Monday afternoon.
"The investigation was conducted in an impartial and fair manner," he said. "It was extensive and it is now complete.
"There was a violation of the Province of New Brunswick workforce harassment policy."
The committee could not agree on a remedy and has asked the deputy clerk to recommend one.
Whether the public will ever see the report on the case to know just what Collins was accused of isn't certain.
LeBlanc released no details about the nature of the alleged harassment and did not indicate how much of the complaint was not founded.
Nor did he say anything about who the complainant was.
He said the committee will not release the report from the investigation, and he did not take any questions.
LeBlanc said the investigation, led by Osgoode Law School adjunct professor Leslie H. Macleod, has concluded.
The investigation was spurred by allegations of harassment made by a former employee of the legislature, Premier Brian Gallant said during a conference call with journalists April 5.
LeBlanc
read a prepared general statement to the news media on Monday about the
harassment allegations against Collins. He refused to take questions
afterward and said he would not make public the report on the matter. (Hadeel Ibrahim/CBC)
In
his statement, Gallant said his office had been "previously" aware of
"personality conflicts" between Collins and an employee. The complaint
wasn't officially made until late March.
On Monday afternoon, Gallant released a statement thanking the committee members for their "unanimous statement," and the Office of the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly for "the process they have undertaken."
"When the complaint was made, our caucus decided to suspend the MLA for Moncton Centre from caucus, which is consistent with a policy of sending someone home with pay pending an investigation," he said in the statement.
"We expect the appropriate remedy to be determined by the appropriate authority within the legislative branch."
Collins announced this spring he won't run with the Liberals in September's provincial election.
Opposition members of the committee would not comment on the report Monday.
MLA Ted Flemming, who was filling in for a fellow Progressive Conservative on the committee, said there was "a mountain of information" that he wanted to process before he would comment.
Green Party Leader David Coon also did not comment on the report.
When the allegations first surfaced Collins threatened to sue Gallant for defamation and hinted he would run again as a non-Liberal or independent candidate. On Monday he said he had no comments about the findings.
His lawyer T. J. Burke also didn't respond to a request for comment.
Collins has been Speaker since after the 2014 election. He gave up his responsibilities as Speaker in April after the allegations first came to light, but he kept his title and salary.
Collins will still be speaker by title until a new one is chosen on the first day of the first session of the legislature after the election. He term as MLA will end in the third week of August.
Liberal MLA Bernard LeBlanc read a short statement, endorsed by all members of the legislative administration committee during a two-hour, closed meeting Monday afternoon.
"The investigation was conducted in an impartial and fair manner," he said. "It was extensive and it is now complete.
"There was a violation of the Province of New Brunswick workforce harassment policy."
The committee could not agree on a remedy and has asked the deputy clerk to recommend one.
Allegations not revealed
Whether the public will ever see the report on the case to know just what Collins was accused of isn't certain.
LeBlanc released no details about the nature of the alleged harassment and did not indicate how much of the complaint was not founded.
Nor did he say anything about who the complainant was.
He said the committee will not release the report from the investigation, and he did not take any questions.
The investigation was spurred by allegations of harassment made by a former employee of the legislature, Premier Brian Gallant said during a conference call with journalists April 5.
Response from Gallant
On Monday afternoon, Gallant released a statement thanking the committee members for their "unanimous statement," and the Office of the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly for "the process they have undertaken."
"When the complaint was made, our caucus decided to suspend the MLA for Moncton Centre from caucus, which is consistent with a policy of sending someone home with pay pending an investigation," he said in the statement.
"We expect the appropriate remedy to be determined by the appropriate authority within the legislative branch."
Opposition mum
Collins announced this spring he won't run with the Liberals in September's provincial election.
Opposition members of the committee would not comment on the report Monday.
MLA Ted Flemming, who was filling in for a fellow Progressive Conservative on the committee, said there was "a mountain of information" that he wanted to process before he would comment.
Green Party Leader David Coon also did not comment on the report.
When the allegations first surfaced Collins threatened to sue Gallant for defamation and hinted he would run again as a non-Liberal or independent candidate. On Monday he said he had no comments about the findings.
His lawyer T. J. Burke also didn't respond to a request for comment.
Collins has been Speaker since after the 2014 election. He gave up his responsibilities as Speaker in April after the allegations first came to light, but he kept his title and salary.
Collins will still be speaker by title until a new one is chosen on the first day of the first session of the legislature after the election. He term as MLA will end in the third week of August.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-liberal-party-nomination-moncton-centre-1.4689918
Robert McKee to run for the Liberals in Moncton Centre
Lawyer won Saturday's nomination by acclamation, a spokesperson for the party says
Robert McKee
has won the Moncton Centre Liberal nomination and will run for the party
in the upcoming provincial election this fall.
The 32-year-old lawyer was elected to Moncton city council in May, 2016, representing Ward 3, and declared his candidacy for the Moncton Centre Liberal nomination on May 17.
He won Saturday's nomination by acclamation, according to Duncan Gallant, a spokesperson for the party.
The availability to run in Moncton Centre for the Liberals opened up after Speaker Chris Collins said he wouldn't reoffer for the party.
Premier Brian Gallant suspended Collins from the Liberal caucus on the basis of allegations of harassment made by a former employee of the legislature.
Collins described Premier Gallant's handling of the allegations as "atrocious" and will finish his term as an independent.
The election is scheduled for Sept. 24.
The 32-year-old lawyer was elected to Moncton city council in May, 2016, representing Ward 3, and declared his candidacy for the Moncton Centre Liberal nomination on May 17.
He won Saturday's nomination by acclamation, according to Duncan Gallant, a spokesperson for the party.
Fantastic turnout for the Moncton Centre nomination. Congratulations Rob McKee and welcome to the #NBLibs2018 team!
The availability to run in Moncton Centre for the Liberals opened up after Speaker Chris Collins said he wouldn't reoffer for the party.
Premier Brian Gallant suspended Collins from the Liberal caucus on the basis of allegations of harassment made by a former employee of the legislature.
Collins described Premier Gallant's handling of the allegations as "atrocious" and will finish his term as an independent.
The election is scheduled for Sept. 24.
8 Liberals quit over premier's 'humiliating' treatment of Chris Collins
Some Moncton Centre board members upset with way harassment allegation against MLA was handled
Several
members of the Moncton Centre Liberal riding association's board have
resigned to protest against Premier Brian Gallant's handling of the
Chris Collins case, CBC News has learned.
Lampert said in an interview that Gallant had "humiliated" Collins when he went public with allegations of harassment against the Moncton Centre MLA. She also said the provincial party office kept the riding association in the dark during the controversy.
"It's been a very hurtful, painful process that every individual and this board as a whole has gone through since that April 5 or 6 announcement," she said.
- Liberals in Moncton Centre need time to 'heal,' says would-be candidate
- Speaker Chris Collins won't reoffer for Liberals, plans to sue premier for libel
- N.B. Speaker suspended from caucus amid harassment allegations
"I guess people will just take their time and decide where they are on that," she said.
Lampert said some of the Liberals who resigned could support even Collins if he ran as an independent this fall, something he has not ruled out.
"I guess people will declare their intentions if Chris Collins declares his," she said.
'Feel betrayed'
Gallant revealed the allegations April 5 in an evening conference call with reporters. He said the allegation came from a former employee of the legislature, where Collins has been Speaker since after the 2014 election. Details of the allegation remain a mystery.
Collins later gave up his administrative functions as speaker, and an all-party committee of MLAs commissioned an independent investigation.
Lampert said she only learned of the allegations when a reporter called her seeking her reaction to Gallant's surprise announcement on April 5 — a sign Gallant and the party disrespect local grassroots Liberals, she said.
"We were strong supporters of Chris," she said. "We got him elected. We raised money for him. And then he was, quote, 'suspended.' And we have no idea what's behind that.
"People in our association, it came through very clearly at the meeting last night, feel betrayed by the Liberal association."
He said in that statement that he would not run as a Liberal under Gallant's leadership but did not rule out another kind of candidacy, declaring he had "many decisions to make about my political and professional future."
Wednesday was the deadline for candidates to file paperwork to seek the Liberal nomination in Moncton Centre. According to the party, only one person, Moncton city councillor Robert McKee, filed before the deadline.
McKee said Wednesday he was meeting with some association members who were upset at Collins's treatment. "Hopefully time will allow them to heal, I guess, from the situation and hopefully support the Liberal candidate down the road," he said.
Lifetime loyalty shaken
But Lampert said Gallant's treatment of Collins had shaken her lifetime loyalty to the party.
"It's terrible," she said. "It's awful. It took me a long time to make my decision to resign as president. I was shaking when I read my letter of resignation. It's just a very emotional thing.
"You spend your lifetime working for a party, financially contributing to the party. You know, we work as volunteers. We're not paid. So that's where the pain is."
In our democracy … people are innocent until proven guilty. And to be humiliated like that is a terrible thing.- Audrey Lampert , former riding presidentLampert said 14 people in all took part in the meeting, 12 in person and two by email. Seven board members, including three from the executive, resigned in person and one resigned by email.
"There were some people, a minority of people, who said regardless of how bad things were, they were definitely going to stick with the party and support a Liberal candidate," she said.
Other members of the Liberal riding board contacted by CBC News declined to comment.
Party exec tried to set up meeting
Liberal Party executive director Keiller Zed released a statement Thursday that he sent to party members in Moncton Centre, saying he had tried to arrange a meeting with the board after Collins's May 10 statement.
Lampert told him "she would be away for a few days," Zed said.
He also said he tried to reach Lampert earlier in the day Wednesday to ask her to resign over her previous comments to the media, which "cast doubt over supporting our party in the upcoming provincial election."
He accused her of rebuffing him and of not telling other members of the board that he had made the offer to meet them.
"I believe that much of this situation could have been avoided," he wrote.
He also said he and the riding association's acting president would try to organize a meeting before the June 2 nominating convention to elect a new executive.
Lampert is a former school teacher and former member of the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission. She was named a member of the Order of New Brunswick in 2012.
Recruited by Collins
She said Thursday she first got involved with the Liberal Party when she was 11 years old.
She said Collins had personally recruited her and other members to sit on the board when the new Moncton Centre riding was created ahead of the last election.
"He's been humiliated publicly," Lampert said. "And there's two sides to every story. In our democracy … people are innocent until proven guilty. And to be humiliated like that is a terrible thing. That's why we're so pained that that man was humiliated like that.
"Maybe there's truth to the allegations. Maybe there's no truth at all. But having tarnished his reputation in the eyes of the public is what our people can't understand, and that's why they feel betrayed."
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.
Anne Bérubé
Gallant's arrogance is starting to cause him more trouble. Everyone should have it coming.
Graham McCormack
@Anne Bérubé Stephen Harper with a smile.
Colin Seeley
@Graham McCormack
Nothing could be worse than this brand of Hollywood Liberalism
Nothing could be worse than this brand of Hollywood Liberalism
David Amos
@Colin Seeley Methinks that folks should enjoy it for the circus it truly is N'esy Pas?
Douglas James
I think Mr. Gallant's days as
Premier are numbered. For all the PR hacks that he surrounds himself
with...he still managed to put his foot in his mouth. Good way to end a
political career aka the Don Darling Method.
David Amos
@Douglas James Methinks all
the recent provincial liberal mandates and that of Trudeau The Younger's
have been the least harmful and the most comical governments we have
had in many years. However they all need to be replaced with minority
mandates ASAP N'esy Pas?
Jim Moore
The entire Liberal party
regardless of Level of government has gone the way of the dodo bird it
seems, 2019 cant come soon enough it seems
David Amos
@Jim Moore So who rules over us and picks our pockets next?
Survey Says?
Mario Doucet
Good riddance to the Acadian pandering party.
Rosella Melanson
@Mario Doucet Very interested to know how they have pandered. Please tell me.
David Amos
@Mario Doucet Methinks a lot of folks would agree that it would not be wise to bet on on your opinion N'esy Pas?
Marilyn Carr
The federal and prov. liberal partys need to be investigated for illegal activities and divisive politics !!!!
David Amos
@Marilyn Carr By whom?
Jonas Smith
I don't know why Gallant is
going to such great lengths to put himself on the opposition benches,
everyone knows they're going to boot him to the curb for his dictatorial
leadership style.
Roland Godin
@Jonas Smith
Could it be possible, like the last premiers, he realized that there is no way out of politicking in Numéro-Brunswick and being booted out is the best option...et voilà.
Could it be possible, like the last premiers, he realized that there is no way out of politicking in Numéro-Brunswick and being booted out is the best option...et voilà.
Stephen Long
@Roland Godin Hope he remembers his crayons on the way out.
David Amos
@Roland Godin Nope Methinks he has no clue whatsoever and he can't trust his advisers N'esy Pas?
Stephen Long
Help, I'm stuck between a N'esy Pas and an et voilà.
Doug Leblanc
What a mess. Property tax, campgrounds, dirty swimming water, dirty politics. I thought Gallant promised to nominate women in half of the ridings where there wasn’t an incumbent. Why no woman in Shediac-Beaubassin-Cape Pele, Campbellton-Dalhousie, Tracadie-Sheila, Moncton Centre, and Saint John Harbor. Or was that just another Gallant alternative fact.
Also, Dominic may have difficulty keeping track of his wife’s 60 cousins but Gallant seems to keep them straight.
http://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/news/news_release.2017.05.0692.html
Lloyd Joslin
Some liberals finally seeing the light
David Amos
@Lloyd Joslin Perhaps
Gerry Ferguson
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/robert-mckee-moncton-liberals-chris-collins-1.4674944
Robert
McKee, who was elected to Moncton city council in May 2016,
representing Ward 3, declared his candidacy for the Moncton Centre
Liberal nomination on May 17. (Submitted)
This bunch of buffoons only has a few months left. They are starting to jump off the sinking ship.
David Amos
@Gerry Ferguson Methinks we shall see if you are correct fairly soon N'esy Pas?
Dan Armitage
He'd throw everyone in the
province under the bus if he thought he'd gain out of it. I'm still so
bewildered they're even in office after the graham regime hmmmmm. We
must all have Alzheimers because a lot of people in this province only
took four years to forget about the mess they left us in back then. Time
to right the ship ABL (ANYONE EXCEPT LIBERALS)
Robbie Adams
@Dan Armitage ....ABL....That goes without saying anywhere in Canada
David Amos
@Dan Armitage Methinks there is more to this story that nobody is telling N'esy Pas?
Mario Doucet
The 30% that always vote liberal in NB won't be able to save Gallant this time no matter how bad the conservatives are.
David Amos
@Mario Doucet At the risk of being redundant don't bet on it
Richard Dunn
An inexperienced leader "Tax to the Max Gallant" with a huge ego has been very hurtful to this province.
"Fool some of the people......." is what comes to mind.
The scary part right now is that he still has the keys for a few more months.......and he believes that reckless spending is the pathway to success for another term.
"Fool some of the people......." is what comes to mind.
The scary part right now is that he still has the keys for a few more months.......and he believes that reckless spending is the pathway to success for another term.
David Amos
@Richard Dunn "The scary part right now is that he still has the keys for a few more months"
YUP
YUP
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/robert-mckee-moncton-liberals-chris-collins-1.4674944
Liberals in Moncton Centre need time to 'heal,' says would-be candidate
Robert McKee says some members upset over handling of harassment allegations against incumbent Chris Collins
A
candidate hoping to take over as the Liberal MLA for Moncton Centre
says he knows party members in the riding need time to "heal" after
harassment allegations against incumbent Chris Collins.
Lawyer and city councillor Robert McKee says some members of the riding executive are still upset with how the case was handled by Premier Brian Gallant.
"I hope there's going to be clarity to the situation moving forward," he said. "That might help alleviate some of the concerns that the association does have.
"I've started the dialogue with them. I've spoken with a couple of them that I have good relationships with. Hopefully, time will allow them to heal, I guess, from the situation and hopefully support the Liberal candidate down the road."
"I've committed to seeking the Liberal nomination and whatever happens down the road, if that's the situation, we'll face that, hoping to keep the riding Liberal," he said.
Wednesday was the deadline to declare for the nomination. No one from the provincial party office was available to say whether anyone other than McKee had qualified to run.
Chris
Collins, who announced May 10 he won't run for the Liberals in the
Sept. 24 election, has not said whether he will run as an independent. (CBC)
Riding
association president Audrey Lampert could not be reached for comment.
McKee said in conversations with Lampert, "she'd told me she's heard
from many [party members] that had concerns" about how Collins was
treated.
Gallant revealed April 5 that his office was aware of a harassment complaint by a former employee of the legislature, where Collins has occupied the position of Speaker since the 2014 election.
At Gallant's urging, an all-party committee of MLAs authorized the hiring of an independent investigator to look into the allegations. Collins also gave up his administrative functions as Speaker.
In his May 10 statement, Collins said Gallant's public discussion of the complaint violated his rights and he vowed to sue the premier for libel.
"A citizen's rights should be protected, not violated, on national television," he wrote. "Who has ever handled [a human resources] file in this manner?"
Collins also said he would not run as a Liberal under the premier's leadership but did not rule out being a candidate in some other way.
New
Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant announced April 5 during an urgent
teleconference with reporters that Chris Collins had been suspended from
the Liberal caucus, effective immediately. (CBC)
With
Collins taking himself out of the race as a Liberal, the party
scheduled the nominating convention for June 2. McKee, a 32-year-old
lawyer and first-term city councillor, declared his candidacy May 17.
He said Wednesday that provincial politics had been a long-term goal, and he saw Moncton Centre "as a potential spot down the road" because he'd expected Collins to serve two more terms.
McKee is the son of former Liberal MLA and cabinet minister Michael McKee.
He said he didn't know if anyone else would file paperwork for the nomination ahead of the Wednesday deadline, but he had heard "rumblings" from others.
He also said he knows many Liberal party members in the riding are concerned about how Collins was treated, but he found as he gathered signatures "there were only a few households that wanted to sit down first, ask some questions and get to the bottom of it."
He hadn't been able to give them many answers.
"I'm like everyone else," he said. "I don't have that information."
Lawyer and city councillor Robert McKee says some members of the riding executive are still upset with how the case was handled by Premier Brian Gallant.
"I hope there's going to be clarity to the situation moving forward," he said. "That might help alleviate some of the concerns that the association does have.
"I've started the dialogue with them. I've spoken with a couple of them that I have good relationships with. Hopefully, time will allow them to heal, I guess, from the situation and hopefully support the Liberal candidate down the road."
- Liberals ramp up attack ads against Blaine Higgs — but how accurate are they?
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"I've committed to seeking the Liberal nomination and whatever happens down the road, if that's the situation, we'll face that, hoping to keep the riding Liberal," he said.
Wednesday was the deadline to declare for the nomination. No one from the provincial party office was available to say whether anyone other than McKee had qualified to run.
Gallant revealed April 5 that his office was aware of a harassment complaint by a former employee of the legislature, where Collins has occupied the position of Speaker since the 2014 election.
At Gallant's urging, an all-party committee of MLAs authorized the hiring of an independent investigator to look into the allegations. Collins also gave up his administrative functions as Speaker.
Nominating convention set for June 2
In his May 10 statement, Collins said Gallant's public discussion of the complaint violated his rights and he vowed to sue the premier for libel.
"A citizen's rights should be protected, not violated, on national television," he wrote. "Who has ever handled [a human resources] file in this manner?"
Collins also said he would not run as a Liberal under the premier's leadership but did not rule out being a candidate in some other way.
He said Wednesday that provincial politics had been a long-term goal, and he saw Moncton Centre "as a potential spot down the road" because he'd expected Collins to serve two more terms.
McKee is the son of former Liberal MLA and cabinet minister Michael McKee.
He said he didn't know if anyone else would file paperwork for the nomination ahead of the Wednesday deadline, but he had heard "rumblings" from others.
He also said he knows many Liberal party members in the riding are concerned about how Collins was treated, but he found as he gathered signatures "there were only a few households that wanted to sit down first, ask some questions and get to the bottom of it."
He hadn't been able to give them many answers.
"I'm like everyone else," he said. "I don't have that information."
Speaker Chris Collins won't reoffer for Liberals, plans to sue premier for libel
Describes Premier Brian Gallant's handling of allegations of harassment against him as 'atrocious'
Legislature
Speaker Chris Collins has delivered an extraordinary attack on Premier
Brian Gallant over Gallant's handling of harassment allegations against
Collins.
Collins, the Liberal MLA for Moncton Centre, also announced Thursday that he won't run for the party in this September's election and will instead file a libel lawsuit against Gallant.
He said he will sit as an independent member of the legislature until it is officially dissolved for the campaign in August.
The lengthy email statement by Collins is his first public comment since Gallant made the harassment allegations public April 5 in an evening conference call with journalists.
Collins gave up his administrative functions as Speaker four days later, just as an all-party committee of MLAs was to vote on stripping him of those powers.In the statement, Collins said he learned of the allegations "simultaneously" to Gallant's call to reporters, in "a surprising and intimidating meeting" with two retiring Liberal MLAs and someone from Gallant's office.
New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant said they "proceeded in the fairest way possible" in handling the allegations. (CBC)
"I was placed upon the [altar] of public consumption then and there for reasons not yet completely clear," Collins wrote.
"I could never place my name or reputation in support of this 'Leader' again."
Reached by telephone by CBC Information Morning Moncton, Collins said he was not doing interviews and the news release was clear.
Gallant issued his own statement Thursday night responding to Collins. He said ensuring a harassment-free workplace was paramount and "we proceeded in the fairest way possible to respect the rights of all concerned."
He also praised Collins as a "passionate representative" of his riding and said the Liberals would now seek a new candidate for Moncton Centre.
Chris Collins will fight the harassment allegations against him, according to his lawyer. (Jacques Poitras/CBC News)
Collins
was first elected in a 2007 by-election in Moncton East. He was charged
with assault after an incident in a Fredericton bar later that year
between him and a Progressive Conservative staffer.
The incident took place mere months after Collins's son Sean died of cancer at the age of 13. The Crown later withdrew the charge after Collins agreed to perform volunteer work as part of an alternate-measures program.
Collins was re-elected in 2010 and in the new riding of Moncton Centre in 2014. He was elected Speaker when the new legislature convened.
Collins, the Liberal MLA for Moncton Centre, also announced Thursday that he won't run for the party in this September's election and will instead file a libel lawsuit against Gallant.
I could never place my name or reputation in support of this 'Leader' again.- Chris CollinsThat reduces the Liberals to a minority government, but it's a symbolic change given the House will not sit again before the election Sept. 24.
The lengthy email statement by Collins is his first public comment since Gallant made the harassment allegations public April 5 in an evening conference call with journalists.
Collins gave up his administrative functions as Speaker four days later, just as an all-party committee of MLAs was to vote on stripping him of those powers.In the statement, Collins said he learned of the allegations "simultaneously" to Gallant's call to reporters, in "a surprising and intimidating meeting" with two retiring Liberal MLAs and someone from Gallant's office.
"I could never place my name or reputation in support of this 'Leader' again."
Reached by telephone by CBC Information Morning Moncton, Collins said he was not doing interviews and the news release was clear.
'Fairest way possible'
Gallant issued his own statement Thursday night responding to Collins. He said ensuring a harassment-free workplace was paramount and "we proceeded in the fairest way possible to respect the rights of all concerned."
He also praised Collins as a "passionate representative" of his riding and said the Liberals would now seek a new candidate for Moncton Centre.
Elected Speaker after 2014 vote
The incident took place mere months after Collins's son Sean died of cancer at the age of 13. The Crown later withdrew the charge after Collins agreed to perform volunteer work as part of an alternate-measures program.
Collins was re-elected in 2010 and in the new riding of Moncton Centre in 2014. He was elected Speaker when the new legislature convened.
Information Morning - Moncton
Political scientist says harassment
allegations effectively put Moncton Centre MLA Chris Collins out of the
next provincial election
00:00
14:08
TJ Burke is the lawyer
representing Moncton Centre MLA Chris Collins. Mario Levesque teaches
in the Politics and International Relations Department at Mount Allison
University. 14:08
Gallant said last month that his office had been aware of "personality conflicts" between Collins and a legislature employee "previously." He said in February his office found out a complaint might be coming, but it was only officially made in April.
Rejects harassment claim
The committee of MLAs that oversees the legislature approved the hiring of an independent investigator to look into the complaint.
Collins's lawyer, T.J. Burke, a former Liberal minister and colleague, said last month Collins would defend himself in that investigation because the harassment "did not occur."
Burke also suggested the allegation was politically motivated to create "political turmoil" for Collins so that Gallant would have a rationale to have another candidate run for the Liberals in Moncton Centre.
Felt rights were violated
In his Thursday email statement, Collins did not repeat that accusation, but he said Gallant had ignored due process and prejudiced the investigation against him.
"A citizen's rights should be protected, not violated, on national television," Collins wrote. "Who has ever handled [a human resources] file in this manner?"
Collins also said the actions by Gallant and his staff "have not created a safe place for complainants to come forward with a complaint or a concern.
"They have made it an intimidating process where the right to privacy is questioned through the politicizing of a process itself."
Even so, Collins said he's looking forward to the investigation process.
Political plans unclear
In his statement, Collins thanked several friends and supporters, including the Moncton Centre Liberal riding association that is on the record supporting his right to defend himself against the allegations before a nominating convention is scheduled.
Collins also thanked former Liberal cabinet minister Mike Murphy, whom Collins supported in the 2012 Liberal leadership race that Gallant won.
Spin Reduxit from CBC Radio New Brunswick
April 23, 2018: The Irreplaceable Edition
00:00
22:55
In an email mistakenly copied to fellow MLAs and made public, Collins threatened, if blocked by Gallant from running as a Liberal, to compete as an independent to spoil the party's chances in the riding.
But the day Gallant was elected leader, Collins declared he would support Gallant.
"In politics, a lot of things are taken out of your hands," he said at the time. "The membership of the Liberal Party of New Brunswick have thrown their support behind Brian Gallant. That decision I have to respect, and I will."
Murphy's wife, Moira Murphy, is now the PC candidate in Moncton South. Collins said in his statement that Mike Murphy has offered him "solid advice" since the allegations became public last month.
Murphy declined to comment Thursday night.
While Collins said he won't run again as a Liberal, he said he still has "many decisions to make about my political and professional future," leaving open the possibility he may run for another party or as an independent candidate.
About the Author
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/moncton-centre-collins-1.4613337
It's
unclear whether Speaker and Liberal MLA Chris Collins will run in
Moncton Centre this fall, after his suspension from caucus over
harassment allegations. (CBC)
Mystery swirls around who will run for Liberals in Moncton Centre
The incumbent MLA, Speaker Chris Collins, is suspended from Liberal caucus because of a harassment allegation
The
president of Moncton Centre's Liberal riding association says she's
been told nothing about when a candidate will be chosen for the
September provincial election.
Until last week, that candidate was almost certainly going to be Speaker Chris Collins, a three-term Liberal MLA. His lawyer, T.J. Burke, said on Monday that Collins had been planning to run again.
But Collins is suspended from the Liberal caucus amid allegations that he harassed a former employee of the legislative assembly.
Collins has not been told who made the complaint against him, but he plans to fight the allegations "tooth and nail," his lawyer said on Monday.
An independent investigator will be recruited to examine the allegations, but it's not clear how long such an investigation could take.
In the meantime, Collins's political future is hanging in the balance, and more questions than answers have surfaced around who might carry the Liberal banner in Moncton Centre.
Riding association president Audrey Lampert said she's waiting for someone from the New Brunswick Liberal Association in Fredericton to set a date for Moncton Centre's nominating convention.
Lampert said she hasn't "heard a thing" from Liberal officials and has been relying on the news media for information about the allegations against Collins.
"There's been no consultation between us," she said of the provincial association.
Lampert said she was away last week when Gallant announced the allegations against Collins.
"All I can say is that we live in a democracy and the rule of law is that a person is innocent until proven guilty," she said.
T.J. Burke, a lawyer representing Chris Collins, suggested the complaint against his client is politically motivated. (CBC)
On
Monday, Burke suggested the complaint against Collins was politically
motivated, potentially with the goal of having someone different run as
the Liberal candidate in Moncton Centre.
Burke questioned the timing of the complaint coming to light now, less than five months before New Brunswickers go to the polls.
When asked about Burke's theory, Lampert said she was unaware of it.
"I really have no information about that at all," she said.
There are no plans now to hold a nominating convention in Moncton Centre, according to party spokesperson Marc Poirier.
He did not answer questions about whether the nomination will be delayed until the investigation into the allegations against Collins is complete.
The Liberals have already nominated more than half of their 49 candidates for the September election.
Most, but not all, Liberals who held seats in the last legislature and plan to run again have been nominated.
The party has until Sept. 4, or 20 days before the provincial election, to register candidates with Elections New Brunswick.
Premier Brian Gallant revealed few details about harassment allegations against Collins by a former employee of the legislature. (CBC)
The
premier has said little about the nature of the complaint against
Collins, including whether the former employee is a man or a woman.
Gallant said staff in his office had previously been made aware of "personality conflicts" between Collins and the employee, who was transferred to another job.
The premier said his office learned of a potential allegation against Collins in February but a formal complaint wasn't made until last week.
While Collins has not been told any details about the allegation against him, a situation that might have led to a complaint involved someone who hasn't worked for him for more than two years, Burke said on Monday.
Do you have a tip about this story? Please click here to get in touch.
Until last week, that candidate was almost certainly going to be Speaker Chris Collins, a three-term Liberal MLA. His lawyer, T.J. Burke, said on Monday that Collins had been planning to run again.
But Collins is suspended from the Liberal caucus amid allegations that he harassed a former employee of the legislative assembly.
Collins has not been told who made the complaint against him, but he plans to fight the allegations "tooth and nail," his lawyer said on Monday.
- Speaker Collins to fight 'politically driven' harassment allegation
- N.B. Speaker suspended from caucus amid harassment allegations
An independent investigator will be recruited to examine the allegations, but it's not clear how long such an investigation could take.
In the meantime, Collins's political future is hanging in the balance, and more questions than answers have surfaced around who might carry the Liberal banner in Moncton Centre.
Riding association president Audrey Lampert said she's waiting for someone from the New Brunswick Liberal Association in Fredericton to set a date for Moncton Centre's nominating convention.
'Innocent until proven guilty'
Lampert said she hasn't "heard a thing" from Liberal officials and has been relying on the news media for information about the allegations against Collins.
"There's been no consultation between us," she said of the provincial association.
Lampert said she was away last week when Gallant announced the allegations against Collins.
"All I can say is that we live in a democracy and the rule of law is that a person is innocent until proven guilty," she said.
Burke questioned the timing of the complaint coming to light now, less than five months before New Brunswickers go to the polls.
When asked about Burke's theory, Lampert said she was unaware of it.
"I really have no information about that at all," she said.
Nomination cut-off is Sept. 4
There are no plans now to hold a nominating convention in Moncton Centre, according to party spokesperson Marc Poirier.
He did not answer questions about whether the nomination will be delayed until the investigation into the allegations against Collins is complete.
The Liberals have already nominated more than half of their 49 candidates for the September election.
Most, but not all, Liberals who held seats in the last legislature and plan to run again have been nominated.
The party has until Sept. 4, or 20 days before the provincial election, to register candidates with Elections New Brunswick.
Gallant said staff in his office had previously been made aware of "personality conflicts" between Collins and the employee, who was transferred to another job.
The premier said his office learned of a potential allegation against Collins in February but a formal complaint wasn't made until last week.
While Collins has not been told any details about the allegation against him, a situation that might have led to a complaint involved someone who hasn't worked for him for more than two years, Burke said on Monday.
Do you have a tip about this story? Please click here to get in touch.
About the Author
Tuesday,
10 April 2018
Good days could be just ahead. It's been WAYYYY too
boring!!! This could get VERY ugly!!!!
Posted by Charles Leblanc at 11:12 pm
1
comment :
Anonymous
11 April 2018 at 21:31
Cant
wait. Let the games begin!!!!
Posted by Charles Leblanc at 2:45 pm No comments :
Posted by Charles Leblanc at 8:03 am No comments :
Monday,
9 April 2018
Posted by Charles Leblanc at 3:26 pm
2
comments :
Anonymous
9 April 2018 at 21:52
STAY
OFF THE DAMN PROPERTY, THE BOTH OF YOU'S!!! POLICE, POLICE, ARREST
THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anonymous
11 April 2018 at 21:09
TWEEDLE-DUNB
AND TWEEDLE-DEE!!!!!! FLY TO HELL OFF THE DAMN PROPERTY, THE BOTH OF YOU'S!!!!
WHO, ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH DO YA THINK YOU'S ARE????
P.C. MLA's Stewart Fairgrieve and Bill Oliver are asked
about suspended New Brunswick Legislature Speaker Chris Collins!
Posted by Charles Leblanc at 3:12 pm No comments :
Posted by Charles Leblanc at 3:09 pm No comments :
Saturday,
7 April 2018
Posted by Charles Leblanc at 12:00 am No comments :
Friday,
6 April 2018
Posted by Charles Leblanc at 5:16 pm No comments :
Speaker Collins to fight 'politically driven' harassment allegation
Clerk to find independent person to investigate allegation, which hasn't been shared with Collins
New
Brunswick Speaker Chris Collins intends to fight the harassment
allegations against him "tooth and nail" but has given up his
administrative duties over the legislature, his lawyer announced Monday.
T.J. Burke, a former Liberal colleague of Collins, said the Moncton MLA still hasn't been told who is making the allegations against him.
But Burke said Collins will defend himself and wants to be able to cross-examine the complainant.
"You can rest assured he's going to defend himself against every single allegation because it did not occur," Burke told reporters.
Collins will retain his position, title and the additional salary the Speaker gets.
T.J.
Burke, the lawyer representing Speaker Chris Collins, told media
members Monday the allegations against his client did not occur. (Jacques Poitras/CBC News)
Burke's
comments came just hours before the legislature administration
committee, known as LAC, unanimously agreed that the clerk of the
legislature will recruit an independent investigator to examine the
allegations.
Burke said Collins would co-operate with any investigation.
Burke also made the sensational allegation that the complaint was timed to come to light now, less than five months before the start of the provincial election campaign, so that Collins could be replaced as the Liberal candidate in his Moncton Centre riding.
Burke said while Collins has not been given any information about the allegation, the only situation that might have led to a complaint involved someone who hasn't worked for him for more than two years.
"I don't have to be Inspector Clouseau to figure that part out," he said. "My political hat suggests to me that this is politically driven by whoever the person is who is bringing forward the allegations at this time.
"If you're in political turmoil, or there is an allegation against you, the premier won't sign your nomination papers. That means it frees up the position for somebody to run in that riding."
Moncton Centre Liberal MLA Chris Collins pictured at the New Brunswick legislature. (CBC)
The election is Sept. 24.
Collins hasn't been nominated yet as the Liberal candidate for the riding he now represents, and Premier Brian Gallant says he won't approve the nomination of anyone suspended from the Liberal caucus.
Liberal MLA Victor Boudreau, part of the LAC meeting that approved the investigation Monday, wouldn't comment on Burke's allegation.
"I'm not going to speak for other people or try to interpret what other people are saying," he said.
Premier Brian Gallant revealed the allegation against Collins last Thursday.
Gallant said his office had been "previously" aware of "personality conflicts" between Collins and an employee and arranged to have the employee transferred to another job.
Gallant expelled Collins from the Liberal caucus and asked the all-party legislature administration committee to suspend him from his administrative functions as Speaker.
He also
asked the committee to "partner" with the government to hire an
independent third-party investigator to look into the complaint.
But Monday's LAC decision was that the legislature's clerk will "lead" the process of finding that investigator.
PC MLA Stewart Fairgrieve said that was the result of his party's insistence.
"This allegation came from an employee or a former employee … of the legislative branch, and it was our feeling that the legislative branch, through the [committee], should lead this."
PC
MLA Stewart Fairgrieve said the Opposition would be satisfied with the
legislature's clerk overseeing the selection of an investigator. (Jacques Poitras/CBC News)
The
Tories also compromised. They had demanded a public inquiry into the
allegations, but MLA Stewart Fairgrieve said they were satisfied that
having the clerk oversee the selection of the investigator would ensure
no political interference.
He said that was a separate issue from PC concerns that Gallant was aware of possible harassment before last week and did not act on it earlier.
Gallant said his office couldn't act until the official complaint was filed April 5, but Fairgrieve handed out copies of a government harassment policy that says senior officials must take action about harassment "whether or not a complaint is filed."
Boudreau said it wasn't clear how long the investigation would take, and he wouldn't comment on how that would affect Collins's possible candidacy in the election.
T.J. Burke, a former Liberal colleague of Collins, said the Moncton MLA still hasn't been told who is making the allegations against him.
"You can rest assured he's going to defend himself against every single allegation because it did not occur," Burke told reporters.
Collins will retain his position, title and the additional salary the Speaker gets.
Burke said Collins would co-operate with any investigation.
Burke also made the sensational allegation that the complaint was timed to come to light now, less than five months before the start of the provincial election campaign, so that Collins could be replaced as the Liberal candidate in his Moncton Centre riding.
No information on complaint
Burke said while Collins has not been given any information about the allegation, the only situation that might have led to a complaint involved someone who hasn't worked for him for more than two years.
"I don't have to be Inspector Clouseau to figure that part out," he said. "My political hat suggests to me that this is politically driven by whoever the person is who is bringing forward the allegations at this time.
"If you're in political turmoil, or there is an allegation against you, the premier won't sign your nomination papers. That means it frees up the position for somebody to run in that riding."
The election is Sept. 24.
Collins hasn't been nominated yet as the Liberal candidate for the riding he now represents, and Premier Brian Gallant says he won't approve the nomination of anyone suspended from the Liberal caucus.
Liberal MLA Victor Boudreau, part of the LAC meeting that approved the investigation Monday, wouldn't comment on Burke's allegation.
"I'm not going to speak for other people or try to interpret what other people are saying," he said.
Employee transferred to another job
Premier Brian Gallant revealed the allegation against Collins last Thursday.
Gallant said his office had been "previously" aware of "personality conflicts" between Collins and an employee and arranged to have the employee transferred to another job.
I think the Speaker's being railroaded, period.- Dan Bussières , former sergeant-at-armsThis February, he said, his office became aware there might be a complaint, but it was only last week that the former employee officially made the complaint.
Gallant expelled Collins from the Liberal caucus and asked the all-party legislature administration committee to suspend him from his administrative functions as Speaker.
Mario
Levesque, assoc. prof. at Mt. Allison University, talks about the
political future of Moncton Centre MLA Chris Collins in the wake of
allegations he harassed a former employee of the legislature. 9:22
Selecting the investigator
But Monday's LAC decision was that the legislature's clerk will "lead" the process of finding that investigator.
PC MLA Stewart Fairgrieve said that was the result of his party's insistence.
"This allegation came from an employee or a former employee … of the legislative branch, and it was our feeling that the legislative branch, through the [committee], should lead this."
He said that was a separate issue from PC concerns that Gallant was aware of possible harassment before last week and did not act on it earlier.
Gallant said his office couldn't act until the official complaint was filed April 5, but Fairgrieve handed out copies of a government harassment policy that says senior officials must take action about harassment "whether or not a complaint is filed."
Boudreau said it wasn't clear how long the investigation would take, and he wouldn't comment on how that would affect Collins's possible candidacy in the election.
He said it wasn't his place to discuss whether the Liberal party should hold off on setting a nominating meeting in Moncton Centre until after the investigation is finished.
'I'm uncomfortable with it'
Green Party Leader David Coon said he agreed to the process despite his concerns that the complaint went not to the legislature but to the executive council office, the central government office under Gallant's authority.He said he was also disappointed that he and other members of the legislative administration committee weren't told the substance of the complaint.
He said he hopes the conclusions of the investigation are made public.
A former sergeant-at-arms of the legislature, Dan Bussières, injected himself into the issue Monday by appearing at the legislature to argue that the committee meeting was "illegitimate." The house rules say only the Speaker can chair a LAC meeting.
"If I was Speaker Collins, I would have walked into that meeting and said, 'No, I did not call this meeting, I am the chair of this meeting and I'm recalling the house,'" he said. "I think the Speaker's being railroaded, period."
Bussières called Collins "a true gentleman" and said he had never seen him act in a way that could be considered harassment.
"I'm not sure what that's about, but we were well within our responsibilities today as per the clerk of the legislature."
Served in Graham government
Burke said Monday that Collins would co-operate with the investigation.
Collins was elected on March 5, 2007, in a byelection held to fill a vacancy in the constituency of Moncton East.
He had previously served three years as a Moncton city councillor.
In 2010, Collins served briefly as the minister of local government under former Liberal premier Shawn Graham.
He was re-elected in 2014 to represent the newly created riding of Moncton Centre and was elected Speaker.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/collins-not-easily-ousted-1.4608693
Speaker Collins can't easily be ousted after allegations of harassment
Removing Chris Collins would require vote of all MLAs because of Speaker's independence
Chris
Collins has two things going for him as he faces allegations of
harassment while serving as Speaker of the New Brunswick legislature.
One is the presumption of innocence. The other is centuries of British parliamentary tradition.
The allegations by a former employee of the legislature against Collins, a three-term MLA from Moncton, have not been proven.
He occupies a unique role in the political system. As Speaker, he is virtually untouchable unless members of the legislature take extraordinary steps to remove him.
"I often say that there are people who run more than the Speaker does, but there are very few people who run what they run as absolutely as the Speaker," said Kelly Lamrock, a former MLA and onetime Liberal house leader.
"Chris Collins is the speaker of the house until a majority of the house meets and says otherwise, or until Chris Collins tenders his resignation properly.
"There's no external measure that could be looked at."
Premier Brian Gallant alluded to that Thursday evening when he revealed the allegations of harassment against Collins.
Because the legislature is a separate branch of government, the Speaker's case is "a bit of a different situation" from one "within the purview and umbrella" of the government, Gallant said.
Conversely, the Speaker is subject to the collective authority of the province's 49 MLAs.
The legislature's rules define how a Speaker is elected but are silent on how a Speaker can be removed.
But because of the body's own independence, including freedom from most legal challenges, its members could remove a speaker even without a clear process, Lamrock said.
"In many ways, you're getting into areas that aren't written down in any law but that come from centuries of received tradition and precedent, and it almost becomes a test of each side's saying to the other, 'what are you going to do about it?'
Gallant
said staff in his office had been made aware earlier of 'personality
conflicts' between Collins and the former employee of the legislature
who made the complaint. (CBC)
"The reason
there's not a lot of precedent is before it get to that, somebody
usually backs down. Somebody signs a resignation letter."
In 2006, Lamrock led the Liberal push to remove Speaker Michael (Tanker) Malley, arguing Malley was not independent from the then-PC government. The Tories voted down his non-confidence motion.
The Collins case is less pressing because the legislature is not scheduled to sit before it is dissolved in August for the Sept. 24 election. A new speaker will be elected when the new legislature convenes after that.
Even so, PC MLA Brian Macdonald issued a statement Thursday night, within two hours of Gallant's announcement, demanding the house be recalled.
"The Speaker is elected by the legislature and can only be dealt with by the legislature," he wrote.
Macdonald's fellow PC MLA Ted Flemming said Friday, however, that there's not much point to doing that.
"What is calling the legislature going to do?" he said. "OK, so there's question period. You ask them a question and they don't answer it. ... So what's that going to do?"
Gallant said Thursday night that he knew of the situation then, but the former employee wasn't sure at that time whether they wanted to file an official complaint.
"I'll tell you what I do know," Flemming said. "Brian Gallant knows an awful lot more about this issue than I do. … What did the premier do? What did he know?"
Besides presiding over the legislature's debates, the Speaker is also the administrative head of the institution, overseeing staffing and contracts, for example.
Gallant said Thursday night the government was asking the all-party legislative administration committee "to suspend the speaker from his administrative position pending an investigation."
Such a meeting could come as early as next week.
Deputy Speaker Bernard LeBlanc, who is the vice-chair of the legislative administration committee, has asked the clerk to call a meeting on Monday in light of the allegations against Collins.
"I have full confidence that the members of the committee will take appropriate steps to ensure this matter is resolved appropriately, and that due process is followed," LeBlanc said in a statement.
One possibility is that the committee would elect a new chair who would take on the administrative role at the legislature while leaving Collins officially as Speaker.
Gallant said Thursday night the government is hoping committee will agree to "partner" with the government to hire an outside investigator to look into the allegations.
He also said Collins had been suspended from the Liberal caucus. Unlike the Speaker's status, that decision falls entirely under the authority of Gallant and his fellow Liberal MLAs.
The suspension from caucus puts Collins's political future in doubt. Gallant said an MLA suspended from caucus would not be approved as a candidate for September's election.
Collins did not respond to interview requests Friday.
One is the presumption of innocence. The other is centuries of British parliamentary tradition.
The allegations by a former employee of the legislature against Collins, a three-term MLA from Moncton, have not been proven.
- N.B. Speaker suspended from caucus amid harassment allegations
- Chris Collins elected Speaker of Legislature
He occupies a unique role in the political system. As Speaker, he is virtually untouchable unless members of the legislature take extraordinary steps to remove him.
"I often say that there are people who run more than the Speaker does, but there are very few people who run what they run as absolutely as the Speaker," said Kelly Lamrock, a former MLA and onetime Liberal house leader.
"Chris Collins is the speaker of the house until a majority of the house meets and says otherwise, or until Chris Collins tenders his resignation properly.
"There's no external measure that could be looked at."
'A different situation'
Premier Brian Gallant alluded to that Thursday evening when he revealed the allegations of harassment against Collins.
Because the legislature is a separate branch of government, the Speaker's case is "a bit of a different situation" from one "within the purview and umbrella" of the government, Gallant said.
The reason there's not a lot of precedent is before it get to that, somebody usually backs down. Somebody signs a resignation letter.- Kelly Lamrock, former MLAThat independence stems from centuries of British parliamentary tradition. A key principle is that a legislature must be able to function free of interference from the monarch, and from the ministers who serve the monarch.
Conversely, the Speaker is subject to the collective authority of the province's 49 MLAs.
The legislature's rules define how a Speaker is elected but are silent on how a Speaker can be removed.
But because of the body's own independence, including freedom from most legal challenges, its members could remove a speaker even without a clear process, Lamrock said.
"In many ways, you're getting into areas that aren't written down in any law but that come from centuries of received tradition and precedent, and it almost becomes a test of each side's saying to the other, 'what are you going to do about it?'
In 2006, Lamrock led the Liberal push to remove Speaker Michael (Tanker) Malley, arguing Malley was not independent from the then-PC government. The Tories voted down his non-confidence motion.
The Collins case is less pressing because the legislature is not scheduled to sit before it is dissolved in August for the Sept. 24 election. A new speaker will be elected when the new legislature convenes after that.
Recalling the legislature
Even so, PC MLA Brian Macdonald issued a statement Thursday night, within two hours of Gallant's announcement, demanding the house be recalled.
"The Speaker is elected by the legislature and can only be dealt with by the legislature," he wrote.
Macdonald's fellow PC MLA Ted Flemming said Friday, however, that there's not much point to doing that.
"What is calling the legislature going to do?" he said. "OK, so there's question period. You ask them a question and they don't answer it. ... So what's that going to do?"
Brian Gallant knows an awful lot more about this issue than I do. … What did the premier do? What did he know?- Ted Flemming, Progressive Conservative MLAStill, Flemming said Gallant needs to explain why the government didn't bring the allegations to light when the house was sitting in February.
Gallant said Thursday night that he knew of the situation then, but the former employee wasn't sure at that time whether they wanted to file an official complaint.
"I'll tell you what I do know," Flemming said. "Brian Gallant knows an awful lot more about this issue than I do. … What did the premier do? What did he know?"
Besides presiding over the legislature's debates, the Speaker is also the administrative head of the institution, overseeing staffing and contracts, for example.
Gallant said Thursday night the government was asking the all-party legislative administration committee "to suspend the speaker from his administrative position pending an investigation."
Deputy asks for meeting
Such a meeting could come as early as next week.
Deputy Speaker Bernard LeBlanc, who is the vice-chair of the legislative administration committee, has asked the clerk to call a meeting on Monday in light of the allegations against Collins.
"I have full confidence that the members of the committee will take appropriate steps to ensure this matter is resolved appropriately, and that due process is followed," LeBlanc said in a statement.
One possibility is that the committee would elect a new chair who would take on the administrative role at the legislature while leaving Collins officially as Speaker.
Premier wants independent probe
Gallant said Thursday night the government is hoping committee will agree to "partner" with the government to hire an outside investigator to look into the allegations.
He also said Collins had been suspended from the Liberal caucus. Unlike the Speaker's status, that decision falls entirely under the authority of Gallant and his fellow Liberal MLAs.
The suspension from caucus puts Collins's political future in doubt. Gallant said an MLA suspended from caucus would not be approved as a candidate for September's election.
Collins did not respond to interview requests Friday.
http://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2018/04/a-speaker-who-continued-to-bar-me-whole.html
Friday, 6 April 2018
A Speaker who continued to Bar me the whole time I argued the Crown in Federal Court is now barred from his own political party
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/chris-collins-harassment-allegation-suspended-speaker-1.4607199
N.B. Speaker suspended from caucus amid harassment allegations
Government may take other steps, pending independent investigation, premier says
The
Speaker of the New Brunswick Legislature has been suspended from the
Liberal caucus immediately amid allegations of harassment, Premier Brian
Gallant announced Thursday night.
A former employee of the legislature made the allegations against Chris Collins, who also represents the riding Moncton Centre, Gallant said during a teleconference with media at 6:30 p.m. AT.
Gallant declined to say whether the former employee is a man or a woman, or whether the allegations are of a sexual nature, saying it is not his place to do so.
Any workplace harassment is unacceptable.- N.B. Premier Brian GallantThe government may take other steps, pending an independent third-party investigation, he said.
"Further action will be considered following the conclusion of the investigation."
Collins, 55, could not immediately be reached for comment.
It's unclear what this will mean for his political future. New Brunswick goes to the polls on Sept. 24 but a Liberal MLA who is suspended from caucus can't run for nomination. The nomination for the Liberals in that riding has not yet been held.
'Personality conflicts'
Gallant said staff in his office had previously been made aware of "personality conflicts" between Collins and the former employee in question, although he did not indicate when.
The employee was subsequently transferred to "an alternate employment setting," he said.
Gallant said his office learned on Feb. 17 that allegations of harassment might be coming. The former employee was contacted that same day and asked for time to "consider the options," he said.
It was confirmed Wednesday that the former employee was making the allegations, Gallant said.
"It is crucial that we ensure that workplaces are safe and respectable for all people, in all situations."
Asked whether police are investigating, Gallant said he is unaware of any other investigations.
The Fredericton Police Force and the New Brunswick Union of Public and Private Employees could not immediately be reached for comment.
He had previously served three years as a Moncton city councillor.
In 2010, Collins served briefly as the minister of local government under former Liberal premier Shawn Graham.
He was re-elected in 2014 to represent the newly created riding of Moncton Centre and was elected Speaker.
Do you have a tip about this story? Please click here to get in touch with CBC NB Investigates.
With files from Colin McPhail
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.
David Amos
Methinks its rather strange
that the Premier didn't suspend his pal from caucus back in February and
I doubt he can fire the Speaker N'esy Pas?
IN THE MATTER OF an application by New Brunswick Power Corporation for approval of the schedules of the rates for the fiscal year commencing April 1, 2018. held at the Delta Hotel Saint John, New Brunswick, on October 31, 2017.
CHAIRMAN: And would you agree that Mr. Amos has in fact essentially fulfilled the obligations of the first part of what had been your objection?
Jonas Smith
Is anyone really surprised about this? Anyone who personally knows him knows that he's as vindictive as Mr. Burns.
Mike Bookman
@Jonas Smith
I've known Chris for 35 years, know his brother as well. I don't find him vindictive at all, he's actually quite concerned about how other perceive him, as he should be.
How long have you personally known him to come to the decision that he's vindictive? And what was it that made you think that way?
I've known Chris for 35 years, know his brother as well. I don't find him vindictive at all, he's actually quite concerned about how other perceive him, as he should be.
How long have you personally known him to come to the decision that he's vindictive? And what was it that made you think that way?
David Amos
@Mike Bookman I recall when
your pal was first elected he was compelled to tune up a mean mouthed
conservative. I agreed that the nasty dude had it coming and published
my words in blogs. in my humble opinion Collins was not being
vindictive he was merely doing what any decent Father should when
challenged.
However on the other hand Collins has never spoken up in my defense and in fact has continued to bar me from the legislative properties even after I sued the Crown about it.
However on the other hand Collins has never spoken up in my defense and in fact has continued to bar me from the legislative properties even after I sued the Crown about it.
David Amos
@David Amos I believe Collins as Speaker should have paid attention when I informed him and his cohorts of this Malice
IN THE MATTER OF an application by New Brunswick Power Corporation for approval of the schedules of the rates for the fiscal year commencing April 1, 2018. held at the Delta Hotel Saint John, New Brunswick, on October 31, 2017.
CHAIRMAN: And would you agree that Mr. Amos has in fact essentially fulfilled the obligations of the first part of what had been your objection?
MR. FUREY: I would.
CHAIRMAN: Okay. So with respect to the duty to participate responsibly, you filed documentation which has been provided to all the parties and the Board of course has read it, as I'm sure others have. Do you -- I guess it's your objection. So is there anything that you want to highlight here or anything further you want to add?
MR. FUREY: Yes. If I might have a few minutes to do that, I would appreciate it, Mr. Chair.
"I think it's worth noting that Mr. Amos' own documents show that he has, on at least one occasion and perhaps two, been banned or barred from the grounds of the New Brunswick Legislative Assembly on the basis of harassment of MLAs, officers and staff of the Legislative Assembly. Having been so barred, he brought a complaint against the members of the Fredericton City police force to the Police Commission, that was subsequently dismissed, relating to their involvement in barring him from the Legislative Assembly. "
David Amos
Methinks Fredericton's infamous "Blogger" Chucky Leblanc jumped on this news in record time N'esy Pas?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=743vdHzurUI&t=73s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=743vdHzurUI&t=73s
Joseph Vacher
@David Amos
use the word "blooger" loosely
use the word "blooger" loosely
David Amos
@Joseph Vacher LOL
Content disabled.
David Amos
@Joseph Vacher FYI I gave the
the "Blogger" who is always crying about being on welfare a free
computer in 2004 when I was running in the election of the the 38th
Parliament. Chucky didn't even bother to thank me. However he was quick
to falsely claim I was a Hells Angel. He was the only one to ever report
that I was barred from legislative properties as he lied about the what
really went down as he teased me on behalf of his political pals. When
Chucky was barred two years later he forgot all about the same injustice
happening to me or the fact that I ran for public office four more
times since 2004. Methinks Blogger is the nicest name I can use to
describe Chucky with N'esy Pas?
David Amos
@Joseph Vacher Trust that you would have enjoyed reading what CBC blocked
John O'Brien
This could not happen at a
better time to a better group. Gallant has been playing dirty spending
million$$$$ of our money to buy votes to make up for his incompetence
and his caucus' greed.He is skirting the law and playing loose with the
rules. Sooo - it looks like someone bested him. I agree this looks too
convenient for the opposition but it is no worse than what the Liberals
are doing. I just hope this shows the mismanagement of this government
to the voters.
David Amos
@John O'Brien "I agree this looks too convenient for the opposition"
I am offended by all of them even the PANB, the NDP and the Greens support my illegal barring from legislative properties More importantly nobody dares to even admit that I have a lawsuit about it.
I am offended by all of them even the PANB, the NDP and the Greens support my illegal barring from legislative properties More importantly nobody dares to even admit that I have a lawsuit about it.
Gord Hasay
Anonymous allegations by
anyone should be treated as libel or slander. Guilty by hearsay isn't
justice. If you are going to cost someone their job or position then the
accuser should have the backbone to stand up and speak out. Anything
else is a cowardly and dirty attack on a person's reputation. If the
accusation is true then there are legal ways to deal with it.
David Amos
@Gord Hasay I agree
Douglas James
Sounds to me like Mr. Collins should have been transferred to "an alternate employment setting".
David Amos
@Douglas James FYI the Premier can't "transfer" the Speaker
Douglas Fowler
The MSM is full of "allegations"! How many turn out to be true? Do we ever know?
David Amos
@Douglas Fowler Methinks folks would find the offenses that MSM won't report far more interesting N'esy Pas?
Aaron Allison
Gallant learned about this in
February , and he shut the Legislature done to cover it up. The
question is Does the Liberals have a Functioning Government. Time for a
Election
Mike McCormick
@Aaron Allison You can't
really believe that. The person who made the allegation is said to have
decided not to proceed with any action back in February an only decided
to do so this week.
David Amos
@Mike McCormick I believe it and definitely don't believe the spin today
dale mcrobie
Is anyone else tired of the media coverage about this? I mean it's every other story!
David Amos
@dale mcrobie This story just broke last night
Buford Wilson
There's a whole lotta inappropriate touching going on.
David Amos
@Buford Wilson I heard that too but consider it just more of the same old same old.
Mike McCormick
@Buford Wilson Why do you think it involves touching?
Mike Bookman
@Buford Wilson
Hardcore conservative Buford leaps the subject matter to 'touching' with no proof.
Hardcore conservative Buford leaps the subject matter to 'touching' with no proof.
David Amos
@Mike Bookman YUP
rayma allaby
thank you mr. gallant for handling this this way....obviously the allegations are serious or he wouldn't have been suspended.
David Amos
@rayma allaby Methinks I
recall Gallant suspending a Harvey dude from the caucus just before the
last election but that didn't take long to fix and welcome him back into
the fold N'esy Pas?
charleysinclair
Liberals ...
David Amos
@charleysinclair Conservatives Too
David Amos
@charleysinclair Remember the
recent news about the leader of the Conservatives in Nova Scotia?
However I been wrong before but I suspect that this spit and chew is a
guy thing. However methinks the "Me Too" movement ain't picking sides
N'esy Pas?
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/jamie-baillie-resigns-inappropriate-behaviour-1.4501742
Nova Scotia PC Leader Jamie Baillie forced out over allegations of 'inappropriate behaviour'r
CBC News · Posted: Jan 24, 2018 1:18 PM AT
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/jamie-baillie-resigns-inappropriate-behaviour-1.4501742
Nova Scotia PC Leader Jamie Baillie forced out over allegations of 'inappropriate behaviour'r
CBC News · Posted: Jan 24, 2018 1:18 PM AT
Ben Brown
Hopefully the 'independent third party' concludes its investment in orderly time.
David Amos
@Ben Brown Methinks
'independent third parties' and tooth fairies can be found under same
heading in the book of myths They both deal in cash in a secretive
fashion and everybody is left happy despite some having less teeth in
their grin N'esy Pas?
Mario Doucet
Mike McCormick
@David Amos What would you do?
David Amos
@Mike McCormick What I have been doing since 2004
Mario Doucet
Why did it take so long to
say something, in Ontario, the conservatives were automatically guilty
within hours of the news, what gives, are the Acadians that special?
Evelyn Gaudreau
@Mario Doucet Why would you think that does Chris Collins represent the Acadians...
David Amos
@Evelyn Gaudreau Methinks that Collins ain't an Acadian name N'esy Pas?
Mario Doucet
Time to take out the trash!
David Amos
@Mario Doucet and leave it with the Conservatives hanging around the dump
Mario Doucet
Another Shawn Graham left
over bits the dust, Gallant will be last man standing come election day,
a great future lies ahead for NB when this liberal trash is finally
gone.
David Amos
@Mario Doucet I would not bet on that pipe dream coming true.
Dianne MacPherson
Innocent until PROVEN guilty !!!!!
William Gerula
@Dianne MacPherson not in the misandry of Canada it isn't.
David Amos
@Dianne MacPherson True
Dianne MacPherson
@William Gerula
The #ME TOO movement has gotten
out of hand.
Families destroyed on innuendo and
no one in court !!!!
The #ME TOO movement has gotten
out of hand.
Families destroyed on innuendo and
no one in court !!!!
David Amos
@Dianne MacPherson The #ME TOO movement has gotten
out of hand.
I agree
out of hand.
I agree
Matt Steele
At this point , these are
only allegations by an unnamed person ; but this will probably end
Collin's political career . It might be better if names were kept
confidential until the allegations were proven true since the accuser's
name was kept confidential ; and had already been transferred to a
different position . Sounds like Gallant is more than willing to throw
others under the bus when it suits his own agenda , rather than wait
for due process to take its course .
Paul Bourgoin
@Matt Steele
Matt, Sounds like you also shoved Gallant under the bus!!
Matt, Sounds like you also shoved Gallant under the bus!!
David Amos
@Paul Bourgoin Should we holler stop or arret to the bus driver or simply not bother?
David Amos
Methinks many folks should
hope that this causes a big slip in the polls for the liberals and as a
result we get a minority government next time around so that nobody has a
good grip on the public purse N'esy Pas?
Mark Deckard
Mark Deckard
Mark Deckard
Chris Collins is not a fan of Brian Gallant. He's as good as gone.
David Amos
@Mark Deckard I suspect that is true
Mark Deckard
"Gallant declined to say whether the former employee is a man or a woman, or whether the allegations are of a sexual nature"
If these accusations were against a Conservative MLA, you can bet we would at least know if the person was a he or she. What transparency!
If these accusations were against a Conservative MLA, you can bet we would at least know if the person was a he or she. What transparency!
Dianne MacPherson
@Mark Deckard
I think it was sexual and a female as accuser.
Why ? because if it was a male and it was just
harassment he would probably have looked after
the issue himself......
do men still settle their beefs by "calling the other party
outside" ????
I think it was sexual and a female as accuser.
Why ? because if it was a male and it was just
harassment he would probably have looked after
the issue himself......
do men still settle their beefs by "calling the other party
outside" ????
David Amos
@Dianne MacPherson The kind
of "man" I call friends do However the kind of "people" the liberal
support who would know where they stand when offended. Methiinks it must
be another case of mankind versus peoplekind within the liberal mind
that demands you ignore the Charter to run for their party or even get
some help offering summer jobs to others N'esy Pas?
Mark Deckard
I can't believe this province elected a Justin Trudeau wannabe as their Premier.
David Amos
@Mark Deckard Methinks Gallant got
elected before Trudeau "The Younger" did and was hardly around when
Trudeau was in town during the Federal Election. N'esy Pas?
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